Moonlight Stars
A project by RHU

I was born in a Ugandan village, where I lived with my parents, my brothers and my sisters. My father didn’t have work, and my mother would find odd jobs here and there to make a living so she could feed us and pay our school fees. We had a small plot in the village where we lived, it wasn’t much but we made do. When I was 13 my mother died, and that was a major turning point in my life, that was when I decided to move to Kampala and try to provide for me and my younger sister.

 

In Kampala I struggled to find work and places to live, reinventing myself when needed. After three years of living there I became pregnant. The father of my child denied it and I was left on my own. My small salary as a waitress was not enough anymore. That is how during my first pregnancy I began working as a Moonlight Star I had two more children as a result of my work, the first when I was coerced to having sex without a condom and the second when I was offered a large amount of money to not use a condom at a time when I had almost nothing.

 

I send my two older kids to boarding school, and my sister, too. I pay for half of their school fees and RHU helps me with the other half. I’m very happy I got a chance to be a peer educator. I get to go out to the community and help people. I explain about reproductive health and direct them to the clinic for counselling and services. People don’t call me by my name anymore; they call me “Counselor.” They know I have an important role in the community, and so do I.

 

I dream of one day opening my own shop. Today, in addition to being a Moonlight Star I prepare food for schools but it’s not enough for us to live on. I hope one day I can make my living through this business, and that way I can build my own house and be free.